In their closing argument, federal prosecutors said the 74-year-old Democrat demonstrated her own guilt on a series of video tapes shot by the undercover witness who posed as a developer offering cash in exchange for building approvals. On those recordings, prosecutors say, Beldini talked of cutting "red tape" and flipping "the pile" to ensure the informant’s applications were on top.

"You saw it. You heard it. The United States has proved it beyond a reasonable doubt," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra L. Moser said.

But a defense lawyer argued the informant, an admitted real estate swindler named Solomon Dwek, duped Beldini into making seemingly incriminating statements using the skills he honed as the architect of a $400-million Ponzi scheme. The attorney, Brian J. Neary, called Dwek a "con-man par excellence" and "thief of first rank" who pursued targets like a "whirling dervish."

And as he did during much of the trial, Neary urged jurors to reject the government’s case for utilizing an informant of such ilk. "Solomon Dwek is the face of the United States government in this investigation," Neary said.

Beldini was arrested in July along with scores of others in a money-laundering and corruption sting that netted state legislators, mayors, rabbis and one man accused of selling a black-market human kidney.

Dwek, who began cooperating with authorities after being charged with bank fraud in 2006, is the thread stringing the cases together. He spent two years wearing a tiny video camera, recording targets in diners, pancake houses and outside of synagogues. Beldini, who faces up to 20 years in prison, was the first to stand trial.

Moser urged jurors today to focus on Dwek’s camera work rather than his character. "All you have to do is watch and listen to the recordings," she said.

Those black-and-white clips, she said, show Beldini agreeing to secure approvals for a luxury 750-unit condominium tower Dwek claimed to be building. In exchange, he funneled $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, who has not been charged. Dwek also promised to make Beldini the project’s exclusive real estate broker. "She stood to gain millions," Moser said.

But Neary argued Beldini never agreed to anything. Her alleged promises were uttered in jest or taken out of context amid Dwek’s relentless talking, the lawyer said. And Beldini, Healy’s campaign treasurer, never angled for bribes, he said. "Not one dollar would ever be presented to Leona Beldini — never," Neary said.

On several occasions during the nine-day trial, Neary invoked a mantra: "Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t steal." In the final words of his argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas R. Calcagni gave it a twist: "Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t steal — and don’t get caught on camera doing it."